Crossing Paths

Sunday, 8 May 2016

The last month after knocking over the depot shed, work and life has conspired against me. On the odd occasion I tend to shuffle trams in and out the roads of the depot shed, along the stretch to the racecourse back to the ammo factory then back into the sheds.

Busy times at the depot.

The other thing I doodle with is time tabling, especially when I'm on dad duties, roughly drawing train graphs of arrival and departure times that allow for short shunting special services to and from the racecourse that also in turn need to avoid conflict with regular services. The backs of envelopes, pages from a scribble pad, scraps of paper all provide a medium for creativity while supposedly supervising small children.

I did manage to visit a hobby shop, I obtained some sanitation based objects, old school rubbish bins (none of those 'modern' wheelie bins), and a Victorian era public convenience for the Ammo factory terminus. As per usual the facilities were kitbashed to suit my requirements, as the original concept was again too large for the area provided.

I bet the ratepayers of Victoria Street are happy with the local council.

Loitering or stage fright?

The other purchase was a replacement motor for 812, as this tram had a history of coughing and farting after about fifteen minutes of continuous running, the current draw of the original motor was diagnosing an issue with one of the windings, the decoder after the stated period would kick in 'self preservation' mode so as not to allow the 'magic smoke' escape.

The replacement motor is one for the Auscision brand of Australian prototype locomotives, the centre height was spot on, however the diameter of the new motor is about .070" wider than the original, so some old tech school bench fitting was required to make it fit inside the split chassis of the Cooee Collectable mechanism.

I will make it fit.

The replacement motor also has some massive brass flywheels that may in someway affect the tides of the planet and not to mention the ability alter the course of the space time continuum. The original drive shafts to the gear towers had to be extended to accommodate the new motor, now I have a tram that could out pull most of the model locomotives going around if I could be bothered with fitting it with some kadees.

812 is finally back in service.

So there it is, in a nutshell. I have spent the last month phaffing around.

Welcome Aboard..

FARES COLLECTED

VICTORIA_ST

A small model tramway layout loosely based on the Melbourne Metropolitan Tramway Board (MMTB). OO scale with a few HO blow ins, now running DCC for prototypical tight headways and lighting options.

Originally set up as a test track, like all layouts it evolved into some thing more, with a slight west suburban slant towards its location.

The modules are only 57cm long by 19cm deep, now there are seven modules, (railway station and racecourse, the original modules), another module is the undecorated fiddle yard ( now the Ammo Factory module), and the two later modules are (the railway gates and the bend, Epsom Rd), plus the latest instalments (The Junction and the Depot).

Victoria St can run as an end of line tramway, a heritage/regional (SEC) line, and a shuttle passenger service with short shunting at the station to service extra punters for the racecourse to a time table run to a 3:1 .